Ippiki_Ookami

I love sparring. I enjoy the freedom to choose your techniques. It also improves reaction speed and you get to see which of your techniques work against a real, resisting opponent and whoch don't. Unfortunately we don't do much free sparring at our club.

14...I seem to be one of the youngest...

Although I love my club and MA style, I have to admit that I first chose the club because I had hardly any choice. I didn't want my parents to be inconvenienced by driving me to class in the evening, so I picked the club which was within walking distance. I did do my research though - I didn't just walk in and sign up, I made sure to watch a class and see that it was a good club. =) I did a lot of searching on the internet to find out which MA I wanted to take, but in the end the research didn't come to much use.

A little over four months....

Even if you take 10 minutes between homework projects to do your form, it is 10 more minutes of training. Even in small, spread-out bursts, you can still work a little something in. Can't believe I didn't think of that before. Thanks for the advice bushido_man, that's something I'll try out. It ought to have other benefits too - whenever I get stressed whilst doing homework, I could get up and practice a few forms and techniques, calm myself down and then get back to work. =)

good luck for your test!

I go to Karate class twice a week which makes up 3 hours of training. Other than that, I do about half an hour of solo training per day with one day off. I want to spend more time at home training and trying out different ways to train, but school, school events and homework take up a lot of my time.

Keep at it, don't give up. Good luck for next time you take the grading!

I was taught by my sensei that it's left and then right, so that's the way I do it.

I pay £5 per lesson, for an hour and a half's training.

Thanks! Nope, no slacking over here =P I'm looking forward to another hard training session this evening.

My club only has two senior classes a week, so I go to both of these. I'd attend more if they were available though.

Thanks! =)

I agree, some kata are similar while others are completely different. I'm not sure about TKD as I haven't seen much of it, so sorry I can't make a point there. Enjoy your training!

Well, I had my first Karate grading earlier today, and was awarded my 10th and 9th kyu. It was difficult, especially as after half an hour of training beforehand, we had to go down and do yet another warm-up. So I was exhausted by the end. I went through the basic techniques, five-step sparring and then my first form.

I haven't been training long at all, but so far here is my general idea about my strengths and weaknesses: Being a beginner to martial arts I have lots of weaknesses, the main ones being lacking in strength, balance and speed. I don't have much strength in my upper body and so my hand techniques are very weak. As for strengths, I think I'm pretty good at kicks. I have good flexibility and this helps me to get better kicking technique. I can also kick high when I need to.

I always knew there was a karate dojo in the village, it's only recently I took an interest and signed up.

I first wanted to try martial arts about a year or two ago (I was 12 - I'm 14 now). I didn't really have enough self-esteem to participate in a club then, so I decided not to. A few months ago the urge came back to me, and as my confidence had improved a lot I joined the local Shotokan karate club. I'm glad I did - it's been the best decision I've made in my life for a long time.

Thank you.

Thanks for the welcomes.

Hey all! Well, I thought I should post my introduction. I've been training in Shotokan karate for more than two months now, and I love it. I might be doing my first grading soon. I'm very interested in martial arts so I hope I'll have a good time here. - Ippiki_Ookami